Boxing: Harry Joe Yorgey hopes to get back in the public eye

For years Harry Joe Yorgey, the nationally-ranked boxer from Bridgeport, had fights every two or three months — or sooner. But then a pattern of a long time between bouts developed after his fight at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia in October 2007 — a 10-round unanimous decision over Martinus Clay.

Injuries and other outside-the-ring problems such as managerial issues have plagued Yorgey and, for years, the scheduling of his bouts has followed a very irregular pattern. His next bout after the Clay fight came 10 months later — a 12-round majority decision over Jason LeHoullier in Nashville, Tennessee.

His next five fights came after long intervals — seven months then eight months followed by a 15-month gap and a 12-month interval. Then, there was an eight-month wait for his most recent fight.

In that fight, which was held on October 27, 2012 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, Yorgey posted a first-round TKO over Zain “Tiger” Shah. With that victory, Yorgey improved to 25-1-1 (12 KOs). Now, Yorgey is getting things back on track and is heading to Las Vegas this weekend to fight Jermell Charlo (19-0-0, 9 KOs).

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He will square off against Charlo in a 10-round bout Saturday night at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. At stake will be the vacant WBC (World Boxing Council) Continental light middleweight title.

“Three months between fights — that’s what I used to do,” said Yorgey, whose nickname is “Lightning”. “If we come out of this with no problems, I’d like to be back with another fight in March or April.”

The fight card, which is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions will be televised live on Showtime and will also feature Lucas Martin Matthysse vs. Mike Dallas, Jr. in a 12-round bout for the interim WBC light welterweight title and Chad Bennett vs. Ben Ankrah in a 12-round fight for the WBO Asia Pacific light welterweight title.

“We just got a phone call three weeks ago about fighting on this card — that they had an opening,” said Yorgey. “I looked at Charlo and my trainer and I decided it would be a good move. This will be my first fight for Golden Boy. They contacted me before but we never were able to work anything out at the time.”

Charlo is a 22-year-old fighter from Houston, Texas. He has fought 10 of his 19 fights in Texas and has fought twice in Arizona and once in Mississippi. Most of his opponents have been regional fighters. Charlo has yet to have a fight against a nationally-recognized fighter — until now.

“I watched tapes of Charlo,” said Yorgey. “From what I saw, he’s a fundamentally sound 22-year-old. But, he hasn’t fought anyone. It comes down to this — the amount of KOs a fighter has doesn’t matter. If he punches hard, I’ll tell you after the fight.

“I have to go in and dictate the style. He likes to stay outside a lot and work the angles. I’m very fast. I’ll beat him to the angle. And, if he comes inside, I’ll rough him up. Styles make fights. You never know until you get into the ring.”

With a national television audience watching, Yorgey is hoping for a win that will propel him back into the public eye.

“Everybody knows what I can do,” said Yorgey, who was a stellar football player at Upper Merion High a few years back. “They’ve seen me fight and they’ve wondered what happened. This will show that I’m back and that there is a reason I’m 25-1.

“I just have to go out and win. I don’t care if it’s a one-round knockout or a 10-round decision. This is for the WBC Continental title. A win will put me as the top light middleweight in the U.S. and top five in the world.”